A union has called for e-bikes to be banned from the London Underground after one exploded on a Tube station platform.
The incident at Rayners Lane station sent toxic fumes billowing across the station and caused temporary disruption to the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines.
A cyclist was wheeling the bike towards a train and was about to board when it exploded.
The London Fire Brigade had to be called and extinguished the blaze.
Aslef, the train drivers’ union, is now threatening strike action unless Transport for London bans e-bikes. The RMT, the biggest Tube union, and the TSSA are also demanding that TfL introduces a ban.
The RMT has asked London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan to intervene.
According to Aslef, the explosion, at around 11.30am on February 27, scattered debris along the platform, sending flames shooting into the air, but “could have been much worse”.
Aslef said an internal London Underground investigation concluded that the e-bike was “only moments away from boarding the train” and that if the explosion had happened on board the train, the outcome would have been much more severe.
TfL banned e-scooters and e-unicycles from the Tube in 2021 after two alarming incidents – blazes on a District line train and in a Jubilee line depot.
But there is no ban on e-bikes being taken on the Tube, despite them using similar lithium batteries to re-scooters and thus posing the same kind of fire risk.
Aslef accused Tube managers of “refusing to ban explosive e-bikes”.
Finn Brennan, Aslef’s organiser on the Underground, said: “An explosion onboard a train would almost certainly have led to serious causalities or deaths.
“And if it led to a derailment, there was a real risk of a mass casualty event.
“The absolute hypocrisy of banning scooters and other battery-operated vehicles, but not e-bikes is staggering – and a real risk to passengers, platform staff, and Tube train drivers.
“It beggars belief that TfL is still allowing these potentially explosive devices on their services. Our health & safety reps have been pointing out the dangers for years, but still TfL refuses to act.”
The RMT said passengers would have been “at severe risk” if the e-bike had exploded on the train rather than on the platform at Rayners Lane.
Eddie Dempsey, the RMT’s newly appointed general secretary, said: “TfL needs to take immediate action and ban e-bikes from London Underground just as they do with e-scooters.
“We have been calling for TfL to take this action to safeguard Tube workers and passengers alike for over a year. We’ve raised our concerns with London mayor Sadiq Khan and urge TfL to do the right thing and take action now.”
The TSSA, which met TfL bosses on Tuesday, backed the call for a ban. It said: “Safety must come first to protect passengers and transport workers.”
Mr Brennan said it was common to see groups of e-bikers boarding Tube trains together, “exponentially increasing the dangers of a fire and explosion, as a fire on one could cause others to explode”.
He added: “We will be issuing safety advice to our members, reminding them of their right to remove themselves from dangerous situations, and also instituting a ballot for industrial action unless TfL does the right thing.”
Mr Brennan said: “There can be no justification for continuing to put staff and passengers at risk by continuing to allow potentially explosive devices on London Underground trains.”
The issue appears to be complicated by the fact that some e-bikes come with factory-fitted batteries while others are illegally adapted, often using batteries bought off the internet that present the greatest danger of exploding if overcharged.
A TfL spokesperson said: “Our primary concern is always the safety of our customers and staff, and we regularly review our risk assessments and the controls we have in place to ensure our customers can travel safely.
“Following the recent incident at Rayners Lane station, we are reviewing our risk assessment and continue to talk to the London Fire Brigade about this incident.”
